Symphonies
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: Connecting one-shots about Kate & Daniel and their journey from the brink of madness to finding each other. Rated T.
1. When She Went Away, When She Came Back

**Story 1 – When She Went Away, When She Came Back**

**A Daniel and Kate Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Author's Note: **

**I'm back with a new batch of connecting one-shots, I kind of discarded last year's story "Dark Line" after listening to the playlist for it and coming up totally uninspired. I decided to start from scratch, with new songs and new ideas. These will be based on instrumental songs from soundtracks and a couple of other places. I'm warning you in advance, that this story came to me in between waking and sleeping and my knowledge of mental illnesses and rehab centers/institutes are limited. Forgive my inconsistencies. The title and idea for this story was inspired by When She Went Away and When She Came Back by Max Richter (from Sarah's Key).**

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**.**

Kate was gone.

Daniel couldn't tell at first, but his world had started to spin out of control. Without her to draw him out of his mind, he got deeply entrenched in it. He stopped working for the FBI, stopped going into the office, eventually Natalie stopped visiting him. Nobody in real life could reach him even though they tried. He started hearing her voice all of the time, wherever he went. No matter what he did, he couldn't escape it. All the other people who came in and out of his life to visit disappeared and she was the only person he saw.

Daniel was a mess, his life was in shambles. One day, he forgot where he was . Forgot his name and what he was supposed to do with his life and everything in between. Then one day with the help of some powerful drugs, it all came crashing back and invaded the corners of his mind again, reminding him of everything he was trying to forget.

Kate was gone. The person he had been seeing on a daily basis was just a figment of his imagination.

The doctors came to talk to him every day, tried to get him to open up and tell him what was wrong with him. They tried to get him into group therapy and to take medicine, but he hid the pills in his cheek and chucked them when the nurse wasn't looking. He made impudent remarks about the other patients; trying everything he could to get them to alienate him. When they did, he spent most of his days in his room and most of his nights playing the piano in the activity room.

_Don't you want to get better, Dr. Pierce? _The beautiful black nurse would ask him every single morning as she led him back to his room after another sleepless night of pounding the piano keys, while Kate would watch him silently from her seat beside him.

He shook his head; he didn't want to get better. Not if it meant that he wouldn't get to see Kate every single day for the rest of his life. But he didn't ever tell the beautiful black nurse this because he knew that she wouldn't understand if he did.

Sometimes Daniel would have visitors during visiting hours. Max, Paul, a handful of his students would stop by to see him. They would all talk to him, try to draw him out of himself, but he didn't care if they were there or not. They all had the same problem, none of them were Kate.

Eventually everybody except for Max stopped coming to see him. And even then his young aid stopped trying to have conversations with him; instead he would spend their hour together reading to him. At the end of every visit, he would pat him on the shoulder and tell him that he really wanted him to get better but he had decided he was going to stop trying to force him to do it.

And time went on; Daniel still refused to get better. He refused the help of his doctors and nurses and his fellow patients. They never stopped trying, never letting him go. He spent every single day trapped behind for grey walls with other crazies and fruit loops as his only real life companions. They had lots to say to them when he didn't have anything to say to them.

One day in early fall, the red-headed girl with freckles and a drug addiction asked him what the _real _Kate would think if she could see him now. He was struck by her insight but for the life of him, he couldn't formulate an answer even though he knew what the answer was.

She wouldn't like it. She had always fought hard to keep his demons at bay. Until she had fallen in love with her ex-husband again and left him all alone. He swallowed hard and looked at the red-headed girl, steeling himself against all the bad feelings that were crashing over him like waves at the beach.

For the first time in a long time, he finally said something.

"She stopped caring about me, why should I care what _she _thinks?"

He got up and walked away; found his way to the piano. He slammed on the keys and for the first time, he tried to escape the imagined her. She didn't disappear but he stopped talking to her.

Then one day in late November, he was sitting in his room looking outside at rain pounding against his window. He was thinking about the red-haired girl who had confronted him about Kate. She had been released right before Halloween, she had lost her battle with drugs the day after Thanksgiving. He hadn't even known her name. Everybody in the ward was devastated; it had been a terrible loss. She had seemed to be doing so well. . . but Daniel guessed that she had been good at hiding her demons.

There was a knock on the door and the beautiful black nurse stuck her head in his room. "There's somebody here to see you Dr. Pierce," she said.

"I'm not in the mood for visitors," Daniel answered.

"Oh but I think you'll want to see her," the nurse replied, smiling at him.

"_Her?"_ Daniel repeated, frowning slightly.

"Hello Daniel."

He stopped cold, he would have recognized that voice if they were in a room with a million people. It had been the voice that had haunted him for ages; it was the voice of the one woman that he thought he would never see again.

"Nurse. . . tell me if she's really here. Please tell me that I'm not just imagining this," Daniel whispered.

"I can see her plain as day," the nurse replied, her voice as smooth and comforting as honey. "Do you want me to leave you two alone to talk, sugar?"

"Please," Daniel said, finally bringing himself to look at her.

At Kate.

"Daniel. . ." Kate whispered her voice low and twanged with regret. "Oh Daniel, look at you. . . you're a mess."

"You're beautiful," Daniel told her, rising to his feet and walking towards her. He reached out and touched her face, her hair, and her shoulders. Finally his hands slid down to her hands and he grasped them like he was clutching a lifeline. "You're really here. You left me."

Kate's eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you back?"

"Donnie," she answered.

"Oh. . ."

"He's not a part of my life anymore. He's not going to be part of my life ever again," Kate said. She shook her head. "Oh Daniel. . . look at you. . . this is all of my fault."

"I'm okay," he lied.

"I should have come sooner," Kate said. "I've been back for a while now; I just didn't want you to get worse. I was afraid that you would think I was using you. . . . I should have come sooner. I'm sorry that I didn't."

Daniel shook his head. "Don't. . ."

Kate sniffed. "You're going to get better right? You'll start participating in group therapy and talking to the doctors? And you'll take all your medicines?"

"I guess," Daniel said.

"None of that Daniel! I need you to promise me that you're going to make an effort to get better!"

"I'll make an effort to get better," he finally answered. "You're not going to leave me again, are you?"

"Well, after visiting hours, I'm going to have to leave you. But I'll be back tomorrow," Kate said. "Okay?"

"Yeah," Daniel said. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Kate let go of his hands and hugged him. "Oh Daniel. . ." she whispered again.

"Kate," he whispered back, making fists in her jacket and not intending to let her go until he had to.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. I am looking forward to hearing them. If you have anything to say then please click on the box below and do so. Just don't tell me Kate was OOC, she probably was. But then I never thought that the Kate on the show would go back with **_**Donnie**_** and I was wrong. So. . . time will tell. **

**Until Next Time!**

**Love,**

**Holly, 6/24/2014_**


	2. Goodbye

**Story 2 – Goodbye**

**A Daniel and Kate Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-outs: pipanpink**

**Author's Note: I wasn't going to continue this story but thanks to the one review I got on story one, I decided to give it another try. This one is based on "Goodbye" from Hachi: A Dog's Tale. **

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**.**

"You don't have to go you know. Not right away anyways," Daniel told her.

"I know," Kate answered. "But I sort of want to, I want to get used to a new place before I get married. It'll be easier to get adjusted to a new culture while I don't have to adjust to married life all over again. Don't get me wrong Daniel; I am going to miss it here. I'm going to miss the work and my father. And you but I need to do this. I'll make sure you still have a way to work with the FBI even though I won't be here."

Daniel sighed. "It won't be the same though. You're the only person who can really stand working with me. Nobody else gets me the way you do, nobody except for Max."

Kate smiled. "Well, it's a good thing you still have Max then."

"Good thing," Daniel muttered, sighing slightly as he forced himself to smile at her. "I just want you to be happy and if this makes you happy, then go and do it. Don't worry about me."

"I'm always going to worry about you," she said.

"I wish that you wouldn't," he replied.

"Well that's impossible. Listen, I have to go now. My plane leaves in two hours," Kate told him as she got to her feet. She touched him on the shoulder, knowing a hug was out of the question. "Take care of yourself, okay? Please take care of yourself."

"I will," Daniel promised.

But as Kate walked away from him, she couldn't help thinking that he had made the promise under false pretenses. She couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't going to be okay or take care of himself. It made her want to stay and make sure he was going to keep his promises, but she knew if she stayed then she was never going to leave and she _had _to go.

So, she got on the plane and tried not to look back but it was impossible not to do it a little bit. She knew Daniel was in good hands and that even if the worst possible thing happened to him; he would be well taken care of.

But still, she worried about him, she couldn't help it. Worrying about him had become such a huge part of her life; she thought that maybe she was going to worry about him for the rest of their natural lives.

**.**

"You're far away tonight," Donnie commented a few months later. He put their Chinese takeout on the table and went over to her. "Is everything okay Kate?"

"Everything's fine!" Kate assured him, standing up and looking over his shoulder. "You brought dinner! I hope you remembered to get the teriyaki chicken. . ."

"Of course I did," Donnie answered. "Kate, are you sure everything's okay? Is it your father? How's Daniel."

"My father's fine Donnie and as for Daniel, I'm assuming that he's okay. I haven't heard from him since I called to tell him that I had gotten here safely. But I'm sure Max would have called me if anything was wrong."

"Not if Daniel doesn't want him to," Donnie said, taking cartons out of a box and arranging their meals on a plate. "But I'm sure you're right, I'm sure everything's fine over there. Now come on and eat before dinner gets cold."

Kate nodded and picked up a fork, she ate but didn't really taste the food. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with her friend back in Chicago.

When she called to check in on him the next day, nobody answered the phone. She hung up feeling even worse than she had before and wanting to jump on a plane to go to see him right away. But the fear of having her suspicions confirmed kept her from checking flights, so she went to church instead and lit a candle, praying over and over again that he was all right.

And then, a month later, she had a major bombshell dropped on her. Donnie had cheated again, at first she didn't believe it. . . she couldn't believe it. But the evidence that he _had_ was overwhelming. There were texts and pictures, this time it was much more than a quick romp with her best friend. Kate felt physically ill and she wondered how she hadn't seen it.

When she confronted him about it, he told her it was because she just hadn't seemed into building a life together again. Kate knew it was true but she also knew that it wasn't a good excuse for cheating. Suddenly she realized that it would probably always be that way, every time she got distracted he would run and find somebody who would pay attention to him. She realized it wasn't the kind of life she wanted.

So, she bid him goodbye and packed up her things to go back to Chicago. She spent a few days apartment hunting and getting her life back in order, in between that, she called Daniel to tell him that she was back in town. Still, there wasn't any answer.

Finally, she went to his house to pay him a visit, hoping if everything was okay then he would be forced to talk to her by her presence. But nobody answered the door, so she went to the university where he taught.

It was like Paul Haley had been waiting for her. He pulled her aside and told her everything that had happened while she had been away. She listened, barely registering what he was telling her, the only words she could really understand were _breakdown_, _hospital_, and _hallucinations. _

"What was he hallucinating?" Kate finally asked.

"You," Dean Haley answered.

**.**

A few weeks later, she sat in front of the hospital, watching the rain beat down on the windshield and windshield wipers swish back and forth. She was gathering up her courage, she didn't know how to face him but she knew she couldn't avoid him forever. After waiting a few more seconds, she unbuckled and grabbed the black umbrella on the passenger seat; she opened it and made a run for the hospital entrance.

There was a pretty black nurse at the front desk reading a Nicholas Sparks novel and eating red _Mike &amp; Ikes_, her name tag said she was named Honey. Kate cleared her throat and rested her hands on the counter.

"I'm here to see Doctor Daniel Pierce," she said.

Honey looked up and smiled. "Of course, you must be Kate. If you'd just sign in sugar, I'll take you to see him right away."

Kate's hands were slightly shaking as she signed the register.

"It'll be okay," Honey told her as she dropped the black Bic pen. "I think he'll be happy to see you."

"I hope you're right," Kate answered, following her down the hallway and to a room with a closed door.

Honey knocked on the door once and then stuck her head in the doorway. "There's somebody here to see you Dr. Pierce," she said.

"I'm not in the mood for visitors," came Daniel's muffled reply.

"Oh but I think you'll want to see her," Honey replied, smiling at him before taking Kate gently by the arm and bringing her into the room.

"_Her?"_ Daniel asked.

"Hello Daniel," Kate said her voice small and distant to her own ears.

"Nurse. . . tell me if she's really here. Please tell me that I'm not just imagining this," Daniel whispered.

"I can see her plain as day," Honey replied, her voice as smooth and comforting as her name. "Do you want me to leave the two of you alone to talk, sugar?"

"Please," Daniel answered, finally bringing himself to look at her.

"Daniel. . . oh Daniel. . . look at you, you're a mess!" Kate said as wave after wave of regret washed over her.

"You're beautiful," Daniel told her, rising to his feet and coming towards her. He touched her in the appropriate places before taking her hands in his and clinging to them like his life depended on it. "You're really here. You left me."

Tears pricked the corners of Kate's eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Why are you back?"

"Donnie."

"Oh. . ."

They exchanged more words, more lies, more apologies and more regrets. After it was over, she made him promise to take his medication and to participate in his therapy. He asked if she was going to leave again, she told him that she had to when visiting hours were over but she would be back the next day. He told her that he would like that, then she hugged him and he hugged her back, clutching her like he was never going to let her go.

Not until he had to anyways.

And she didn't mind in the least, because she didn't want to let him go either.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**Anyways, there's the end of my second story. I hope you'll review but I'm not expecting anything. If you feel like telling me what you thought, then click on the box below and tell me there. **

**Until Next Time!**

**Holly, 7/7/2014_**


	3. Touch

**Story 3 – Touch**

**A Daniel &amp; Kate Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Rated: T**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**Author's Note: Title comes from the Dustin O'Halloran track, **_**Touch **_**from the movie "Breathe In".**

**Shout-Outs: Johanne, Belle D'Arcy, M.L. Ayala, and XDpersonXD**

**.**

**Touch [tuhch]** **noun, 30.** _The act of touching; state or fact of being touched. _**32.** _The quality of something touched that imparts sensation._

It had been months since she had returned and he still hadn't told her that he loved her. Every time he went to say it, he choked on his words. He was terrified that saying _I love you_ would frighten her off and that he would lose her again. He didn't want to spiral down into a world where he could only talk to fake Kates that his subconscious conjured up because he couldn't function without her.

So, he bit his tongue and swallowed his pills and went to sessions with his therapist, trying to be a good patient for the sake of Lewicki and Kate while he tried to pretend that he didn't love her.

When he wasn't pretending not to love her and in between getting ready to go back to school, Kate would come over every day to visit him. She took him on long walks, even when it was snowing out. Sometimes in the milky twilight, she would take his hand and weave their gloved fingers together, not realizing that she was causing his heart to somersault with unbound glee at the little bit of touch that she allowed him, her voice warmed his soul.

One particularly cold winter day, they took a walk to the park a few miles from his house. Kate dusted the snow off one of the swings and sat down on it. "Push me?" she requested, her dark brown eyes begged him to say _yes_.

Feeling absurdly childish, he went over to her and pulled the swing back before gently pushing her back and forth, watching as she gained momentum. An uncharacteristic giggle spilled from her throat, echoing off of the barren trees and the empty park, she sounded like she didn't have a care in the world. After a few minutes of solid swinging, she jumped off the swing and tumbled into the snow, lying on her back.

"Kate!" Daniel yelled, running towards her to make sure she was okay.

Laughing, she pulled him down beside her. "Don't worry Daniel, I'm _fine_!"

It felt silly, lying there in the snow beside her, staring up at the gray clouds that were threatening them with yet _another _shower of white flakes sooner than later. He breathed in deeply and looked over at Kate, who had her eyes closed in blissful contentment. He turned his face heavenward again, a second later he felt her hand slide down his arm and find his hand. He released his breath with one great whoosh and closed his fingers around her's.

"You know, we'll probably get sick from lying out in the snow like this," Daniel said tentatively.

Kate laughed and turned her head to look at him. "Didn't you ever make snow angels when you were a kid?"

"Sure," Daniel answered sheepishly. "But I had a snowsuit on and boots. . . I wasn't wearing a pea coat and Converse sneakers."

"Well, if you're so worried about it. . ." Kate said, releasing his hand and sitting up. "Maybe we should get home anyways, it's around dinnertime and we don't want Max to worry about us."

Daniel sat up too and looked at her for the longest time, moving his hand to her face to brush a strand of hair from her wind-nipped cheek. She smiled at him and he took it as a good sign but he couldn't make himself close the gap between them to kiss her even though he wanted to. After a few minutes, he got to his feet and pulled her up with him, surprised that he could lift the both of them without falling back into the white powder beneath their feet.

It was another missed opportunity, he backed away from her as soon as they were standing, dropping her hand like it had burned him. He was shocked to see that she looked disappointed by the loss of contact between them. There was a pause before she adjusted her navy blue knit cap and then took a step towards him, taking his hand again without any fanfare.

"Come on Daniel," she said quietly. "Let's go home now."

"Okay," Daniel agreed as they waded through the snow and to the park entrance together.

Kate stopped when they reached the gate, there was hesitation written all over her face, like she was afraid to say what she was thinking or act out on something. He felt his heartbeat accelerate slightly and suddenly he was more paranoid than he had been ever since she came back to him in November, he just knew she was going to deliver some devastating blow. He braced himself for it, for the news she was going to move into her own apartment and leave him to rattle around his big old house with Lewicki as his only companion.

There weren't any words though. Just a pair of lips on his, they tasted like Burt's Bee's lip balm and cherry Lifesavers that were leftover from Christmas. He didn't know how to respond even though it was something he had been wanting to do for a long time.

Finally, his brain caught up with his mouth and he returned her lips with fervor. He still couldn't find the words to tell her, but he knew they would come later when he could sort of think straight again.

"Was that okay?" Kate asked cautiously a few seconds later, when she breaks their kiss with a smacking sound.

Daniel swallowed and nodded. "It was," he assured her, squeezing her hand. "Actually, you don't know how long I've wanted to do that!"

"I sort of had an idea," Kate admitted. "I was wondering what was taking you so long though!"

"I'm sorry?" Daniel said, mostly because he thought it was what she wanted him to say.

"It's okay," Kate assured him. "I understand that it's hard for you. . . _this_, it isn't so easy for me either. I think I still have major trust issues."

"I'm not going to do what Donne did to you," Daniel told her; putting his hand under her chin and raising it so her eyes could meet his. "You know that, right? I need you to know that."

"My head knows it but my heart. . . it's still trying to catch up."

Daniel refrained from saying anything about her heart, too afraid to say anything that would ruin the moment between them. "I _promise_ Kate, I will _never _do what Donnie did to you! He didn't know what he was giving up."

He didn't remind her that she had other things to worry about with him anyways like descents into madness and hallucinations and forgotten on purpose medications when his prescriptions were having adverse side-effects. Besides, she already knew, she could have ran at the end of November when the doctors suggested that she move in with him and Max to lessen the chances of imaginary Kate coming back.

"Come on Daniel," Kate said, interjecting into his thoughts. "Let's go home."

He nodded, feeling a little bit lighter than he had in a while. He knew they would have obstacles to overcome going forward, that there was still things that he needed to say to her aloud, but for now he would be content with the subtle shift in their relationship. They both needed to take things slow; him because he couldn't take too much change all at once and her because she was still trying to deal with leftover hurt feelings from Donnie betraying her not once but _twice_.

But he knew they would be able to face it all together. They had already been doing it all along, this time there would just be a different name to it this time.

_Love._

It frightened him but he was going to try and be brave, for her sake. For his. He already knew that he wasn't anything without her; he couldn't let her go. . . not this time. He fell into step beside her and decided that one day, he would find the words inside himself to tell her just that.

He hoped that she would be patient with him.

Stealing a glance at her as they started to walk home, he was sure she would be.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**I'll be the first to admit that I am not the best Daniel &amp; Kate writer, but I do love to **_**try**_**. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. I do have a few more planned, especially now since the show is ending. Please review and tell me what you thought, if you have a spare minute or two.**

**Until Next Time!**

**Holly, 3/12/2015_  
**


	4. Homecoming

**Story 4 – Homecoming**

**A Daniel &amp; Kate Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Shout-Outs: ChristyLouisGilmore17, Wolfhound159, Postinlover4ev, Kelly of the midnight dawn, M. L. Ayala, 753398445a, and Guest**

**Rated: K+**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Author's Note: This was inspired by the track **_**Homecoming **_**by George Fenton, from the Ever After soundtrack, the title of the story comes from the same place.**

**.**

**Homecoming: 1. a return to one's home; arrival at home.**

". . . Think it will be for the best. . ."

". . . the hallucinations to start. . . do we. . ."

"No. . . not. . ."

The conversation between Kate and his doctors came into his room in snatches, they were so close to releasing him from the hospital but they wanted to make sure a few things were in order before they let him go. Daniel was anxious to get away from the doctors and the other patients and try to get back to his normal routine.

A few minutes later, Kate came into his room and took the seat across from his, smiling easily at him. "Hey Daniel, I was just talking to the doctor and they suggested that I move in with you when you go home. They think if I'm there then it'll lessen the chances of the imaginary me coming back to visit. What do you think about that?"

"What do you think?" Daniel asked carefully. "Do you want to move in with me?"

_And with all my hallucinations_, he added mentally.

"I don't mind, if you don't," Kate answered. "It isn't like I have a place of my own right now; I'm still living in my old bedroom at home. And even if I was living all by myself, I'd give it up in a second if I thought it would help you."

"Let's do it," Daniel said. "I'm not promising it'll be easy though."

"I don't care, I'm willing to try anything to help you out," Kate told him. "Besides, the doctors already filled me in on everything that could go wrong, so I know what to expect. I'm not afraid Daniel, if that's what you think. I've stared down scarier things than a mental illness."

"No you haven't," Daniel told her quietly. "You think you have but you haven't seen me during one of my episodes, not really."

"I'm not running away!" Kate said firmly. "Nothing you can do or say will scare me away, Daniel Pierce. Just stop it now, I'm going to go home with you and I'm going to take care of you. There is _nothing _you can do about it."

"Okay," Daniel finally agreed.

"Good. Now, I have to get back to my father's apartment, I promised I'd run the bar for him tonight. But I'll be back tomorrow, try and get some rest. You have a big day ahead of you," Kate said, gently putting her hand on his and smiling at him. "You're going home."

"Yes. . . home," Daniel repeated.

"Don't worry; I'm going to be with you every step of the way!" Kate assured him as she pulled her coat on. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise!"

Daniel wanted to tell her not to make promises that he couldn't keep, but when he looked in her eyes, he saw the possibility that maybe she was right and everything _was _going to be okay. He would take her word for it, he had always trusted her before and even though she had left him for a little bit, she had never given him a reason to doubt her once.

**.**

"You're going home today," Honey said as she threw the curtains back and let the last of the autumn sunshine seep into his room. "Praise Jesus!"

Daniel just smiled at her as he shuffled around the room in his slippers and looked for his glasses. There was no need getting into the argument about whether or not God existed _again_. Honey never listened to him about it anyways; she was a good Baptist girl from the south.

"Is Miss Kate coming today?" Honey asked.

"I'm here, actually!" Kate answered, coming into the room. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, we've pretty much got him all set to go," Honey replied. "We're just waiting on the doctors to finish signing off on his discharge papers and then you're all set."

"Thank you for everything," Kate said.

"Oh, it was no problem at all!" Honey assured her, patting her affectionately on the cheek. "Now Daniel, I don't want to see your pretty little face around here ever again! You take care of yourself, do you hear me!?"

"Yes," Daniel answered, looking at Kate.

"And you two take care of each other!" Honey said sternly.

"I'm planning on it," Kate promised.

Honey scooped them both up into a hug and gave them each a wet, Mike &amp; Ikes kiss on the cheek. "I better go. I have other patients to attend to. Good luck to the both of you."

"Thank you," Kate said.

"Yeah, thank you," Daniel echoed, folding his arms across his chest.

"So, are you ready?" Kate asked Daniel when they were alone.

"As I will ever be," Daniel replied.

**.**

Everything was just as he had remembered it, except for a little bit cleaner. Max had cleaned the whole house to perfection and had even picked up after him, putting away all the papers and books he had spilled before being put in the hospital.

A welcome home sign was hung up in the entryway and a classical piece was floating from the living room and into the entryway. Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he took in familiar surroundings.

He was _home_.

Kate slid her hand through his, drawing his attention to her. "You're okay?" She checked.

"I'm fine," Daniel assured her, realizing he still hadn't breathed out. "It's exactly like I remembered it. Except. . ."

"Yes?"

"Now you're here," Daniel answered. "But I think that it's a good thing."

Kate smiled. "Yeah, I do too."

Max came out of the kitchen, breaking the moment between the pair and grinned, wiping his hands on a towel. "Welcome home. . . both of you," he said.

"Hey Max," Kate replied cheerfully, not even letting go of Daniel's hand for a second.

"Dinner's almost ready, I'm thinking we'll eat first and then we can get you both settled."

Daniel nodded. "Sounds good. I hope you made something vegetarian."

"Of course," Max answered. "Just because you haven't been here in a few months doesn't mean I forgot all of your preferences. I made something different for us, Kate. I didn't think you'd want rabbit food."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Very funny Lewicki."

"Well, I do try." 

They followed him into the dining room and Daniel was thankful that everything was quickly returning to the way it had been before Kate had left and he had hallucinations of her coming back to him. He hadn't realized it the day before but he had been terrified that things would never be able to go back to normal. . . that maybe he had damaged them too much to ever go home again.

But it was like he had never left.

And aside from some damage that had been created from her leaving, it was almost like Kate had never left either.

It was over now though. He wouldn't dwell on it anymore.

Because they were _both _home now.

**_The End_**

**.**

**Author's Note II:**

**I was severely disappointed by the finale of Perception. I was hoping that it would end nicely for Daniel, not with him all alone and in unrequited love with Kate. I will continue to write stories for this fandom; it was and still is one of my favorite shows despite how they ended things for my favorite characters. **

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot and that you will tell me what you think. I am looking forward to hearing from you. I should have a more therapeutic story out soon. Be on the lookout for that and the continuation of this series too.**

**Love,**

**Holly, 3/20/2015_**


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